The next morning, the dining room buzzed with familiar sounds, clicking cutlery, soft chatter, and the aroma of buttery toast and fresh coffee. Everything seemed to have returned to normal...except Elina.
Micah took a seat across from Aria, cautiously testing a sip of hot milk.
"Dad, are you seriously wearing that tie with that suit?"
Jacob raised his head over his newspaper and looked at his outfit, puzzled.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Your suit already has a lot going on with that navy checked pattern. Pairing it with a burgundy plaid tie? It's a visual chaos. The contrast of the two makes one's eyes go blind while driving one's mind crazy."
Micah said as he bit into his toast.
"Dad, honestly, when it comes to fashion, you'd be better off listening to Micah. Your sense of style, how to say it… it's more like a fashion crime."
Aria added while peeling her boiled egg.
Jacob stared at them, speechless.
"Hey, you two! What is this?"
Then he turned to his wife in protest.
"Honey, are you hearing this? Your children are bullying me first thing in the morning!"
Elina didn't even look up, calmly arranging strawberries on a platter.
"You're going to be late."
Micah's smile froze on his face. His mother hadn't glanced his way once. Not a word to him. Even dismissing any topic related to him.
Micah fidgeted with his bread roll.
"Mum, do you want more tea?"
She didn't respond. Just picked up the tray and walked out.
The rest of Ramsy's family continued eating, pretending nothing had happened.
Micah sighed helplessly. He had no idea how to fix this.
His arm still throbbed under the gauze, the stitches itching as the skin around them tightened. The doctor said a few more days until they could come out, but it felt like forever. He was healing too slowly, both physically and emotionally.
He couldn't take it anymore. He needed fresh air after cooping himself up at home for a day.
"I'm going out for a bit."
Micah announced, already halfway to the door.
The reaction was immediate.
"Absolutely not," Willow snapped.
"You are still healing, Son."
Jacob said in a calm tone.
"That's a stab wound, isn't painful?! Can't you rest for once?!"
Aria asked incredulously.
Micah held up both hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright. No need to gang up on me."
But inside, he was already done arguing. Instead of pushing further, he stepped back into his room and pulled out his phone. He hesitated for a second before dialling the lab.
His voice was calm as he requested for DNA results to be sent directly to his email.
Then he waited.
Late that afternoon, he sat in the garden, staring at the flower bed. The roses were in full bloom, their scent carried gently by the summer breeze. The sun was starting to set, making the heat mellow into something warm.
His phone lay in his lap, and he kept checking it every few seconds, flicking it on, refreshing his inbox, and locking it again, only to repeat the cycle.
The nervousness and anxiety filled every part of his body. Deep down, he knew what he wished for.
That dream…would be just a mistake… a cruel joke….
He desperately wanted to deny Darcy's similar appearance to the Ramsy family.
Believing his lack of talent and IQ was just a simple mutation, nothing related to his chromosomes.
He had escaped to the garden, wanting to distract himself. The evening warm wind brushed against his face, ruffling his snow-white hair.
The rustle of leaves, the singing of birds, or the buzzing of the bees, every sound was erased from his ears. He felt like he was floating inside a black hole, soundless and weightless, separated from the rest of the world.
His phone buzzed. Micah glanced down. A new email notification appeared on his screen. His heart jumped.
With shaky hands, he opened the email.
The words wobbled at first. He blinked hard, forcing himself to read.
A big number 0 glared at him.
The alleged father is excluded as the biological father.
The probability of paternity: 0%
Jacob Ramsy was not his father.
Micah's breath caught in his throat.
The alleged father is excluded as the biological father of the tested child. The conclusion is based on non-matching alleles observed...,
Micah could not read the rest of it.
He went to the next page.
The probability of maternity: 0%
Elina Palmer was not his mother either.
He moved to the next section, eyes scanning over the words without fully processing them.
The sibling index is Less than 1.00: Which indicates the individuals are unlikely to be siblings.
Willow and Aria were not his sisters…
Micah looked at 99.9999% paternity and maternity probability at the end of the report for Willow and Aria.
Yeah, it was just him.
Suddenly he felt something moist hit his hand. Then his mobile phone…
Micah belatedly realised he was crying.
His vision turned blurry. Hot, uncontrollable tears dripped onto his phone, blurring the text.
His throat clenched, choking back a sob. He curled forward slightly, shoulders trembling as he pressed his palm to his mouth.
He couldn't even cry properly.
He felt a lump pressing down on his emotions, not letting him release the sadness in his chest.
He felt alone…
His hands turned cold and stiff. He lost his grip on the phone. The thud echoed in the garden.
Micah felt out of place. The surroundings were full of colour and sounds. But for him, everything felt quiet and dark.
He felt a layer of fog surrounding him, isolating him from the rest of the world.
"What should I do now?!"
He mumbled with a shaky voice.
With the DNA test results, there was no way out for him to postpone his decision.
He needed to choose one path.
Spill all the truth now or shut up for the rest of his life, waiting for fate to reveal the truth.
None of them seemed ideal. One contained too many unknown risk factors, the other was filled with deception.
Micah tried to wipe his eyes, feeling ashamed that he was crying like a baby.
In the end, he knew he couldn't tell his family the truth. He couldn't be the one to shatter the perfect happy lives they thought they had.
It was cruel...
For the rest of their lives, they would hold him accountable for changing their lives.
Micah also wished he had never had that dream. That strange, cruel version of another world where he was Micah Ramsy, a fake heir, a disposable background character.
If he could go back to ignorance, Living blissfully not knowing anything, letting the hospital realise its mistake, letting fate deal with it.
Not like this, the only one to know being him… shouldering this massive burden…
He hid his face behind his hands, groaning.
"God…Why did you choose me?!"
His voice cracked.
Why did it have to be him carrying the truth?
Wasn't better if it was Darcy?
He was the real victim.
Darcy had to be the one to make a choice, not him.
He was the one who had taken over his life, his parents, his siblings and his family, enjoying the luxury and comfort…
Why did you make him a villain?!
When facing reality, Micah was ashamed to know he had become truly a villain…
Prioritising himself over Darcy…
Had he had the right?
Micah let out a bitter laugh, short and broken.
In the end, he wasn't much different from Micah in the book. The version who clung to what was never his. Who chose himself, over and over.